It’s been two years since our month long, 500-mile journey from St. John Pied-de-Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain with our then 1-year old son Hudson.

There have been so many changes, blessings, adventures, opportunities to come in the past few years. We welcomed our Camino baby (Kalea) who just turned a year last month. Kristin and I have been growing our businesses and working through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. We completed another successful fundraising and awareness campaign with Rotary International last month for what we’re calling the Juan de Fuca 50K swim last month. I can’t thank our community enough for supporting me in this endeavor, helped us raise over $10,000 towards efforts to help in human trafficking in the upcoming year. After this swim, I have a whole new appreciation for the currents in the water which pulled us in all different directions. Often currents in our own life pull us to different paths rather than our original planned destination, and I am so grateful for the growth and learning that happens with each time we throw ourselves into the adventure.

That brings us to the next big adventure… our family is going to take on the 150-mile Camino route from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.This will be our 2nd Camino and we have a few additional peregrin0s joining us for the journey. Hudson will have the company of his little sister Kalea who will sit side by side in the trusty double BOB stroller, which we will of course load down again with all our gear strapped on it. We are also going to bring along Hudson’s scooter and see how much of the course he decides to do under his own power. The other additional pilgrim (thank God for grandmas) is Kristin’s mom, Holly. I’m sure during the two and a half week journey we will find times that we are so grateful to have the help of another hand as well as the inevitable “trail grandmas” that these two munchkins will gather along the way.

Meeting up with Ross and wife Lisa Macfarlane, one of Hudson’s “trail grandmas” on the Camino Frances (July 2019).

For Kristin and I, this will be a time of reflection, a time of clarity for the upcoming year and a celebration for the time, energy and passion that we’ve put into building out our businesses, our partnerships, and our own physical and intellectual pursuits. I know traveling as much as we do, and with kids, may seem crazy at times to people, but for us we are constantly trying to find ways to make our life work for us living in a very busy and driven city, and keeping that small town community and engagement attitude for ourselves and to expose our children to those same lessons and adventures.

We would love to share this adventure with you, our “chapter 2” of Tiny Shell Camino. Excited for the time in nature, revelations about the year to come, and how to continue to have impact and build community while engaging with the world around us.